The Rose Tattoo
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Lovino noticed it one morning where it rested low on Antonio's back; he didn't know the significance of it, or the pain that was hidden with in it as Antonio remembered the memories that were always so near.
1. Chapter 1

"What's this?" His younger lover breathed.

Antonio was swept up in the memories that the simple, rose tattoo had caused.

His breath shuddered; he remembered why Arthur had said that they needed to get matching roses.

"The rose is my country's national flower, and if you have it then it would mean that you belong to me." Arthur had smiled an almost possessive smile as he said that.

"You really think so?" Antonio was excited before he remembered how Francis had always cherished roses; it was absurd to be worried about that when Arthur loved Antonio not Francis.

"Do you think that I would suggest it, and not mean it?" Arthur retorted.

"No." The Spanaird answered.

"Let's get them." The predatory grin on Arthur's face sent a pleasant chill down Antonio's spine.

"It's just something from my past; it doesn't matter." Antonio answered; tears pricked at his eyes.

He wrapped his arms around Lovino, "What matters is that I am with you now, and did not know you then. Te amo, Lovi."

It did matter after all Antonio still did not call Francis, though it had been years since then; he was too hurt by Francis's betrayal, and too scared that he would hear that beautiful, British voice that belonged to only Arthur.

It meant that he could never say, "I love you," in English like you used to, and the way that Arthur had managed to speak in during rare and loving moments.

It mattered enough that Antonio had never gotten that rose tattoo removed even though he was sure that Arthur had removed his.

Antonio still insisted that Lovino say his, "I love you"s in Italian under the excuse that Antonio loved Lovi's Italian accent.

It mattered enough that he insisted that Lovi was his, so that he couldn't tarnish the fact that Antonio was still Arthur's.

He also constantly insisted that he had to top not Lovino, because Arthur had always topped Antonio.

Antonio still refused to read the newspaper for fear that England would be mentioned in some random article, or that someone innocently named Arthur had made the news.

He still talked to Gilbert, but had told him to never say Francis and Arthur's names as Antonio could not bear to hear news of them.

Antonio pulled Lovi closer to his nude body, and remembered a time that he used to hold Arthur that close; the blond, Briton would complain and managed to squeeze out of Antonio's arms usually under the excuse that their bed was still dirty, or that he wanted to cook English food for dinner as he was tired of Spanish.

At the dinner excuse Antonio would laugh and say, "Let me help you."

He had always been worried that Arthur would burn down their kitchen, so he had began teaching him how to properly cook British food and Spanish food.

It had always been so fun to cook with someone else, but Antonio had for the most part not stepped in to the kitchen.

Lovi was an incredible cook, and when Antonio cooked it was always to Lovi's preference or foods that he had never made for or with Arthur.

The Spanish man still couldn't tell Lovino about Arthur; he always froze up when he tried, and then he would change it to something unimportant about his childhood.

Arthur's name had never been spoken to Lovino not even anything about when they had met.

Francis had brought Arthur to them as they waited for the bus one morning; Arthur had just moved over from England, and lived next door to Francis who had been his pen pal for as long as anyone could remember.

Antonio's fist though of Arthur was that he was cute which quickly changed when they became rivals; everything was about beating Arthur at it from English class to whose girlfriend was prettier.

Girlfriends turned to boyfriends, and they quickly fought over who was better at Football. (No, not the American version.)

Rugby also came in to question; neither wanted to lose at anything.

Francis's amusement turned to annoyance as they continued to fight.

The Frenchman did everything in his power to make them get along as at least acquaintances.

Gilbert had simply locked them in a room with each other; at the time Antonio had been heartbroken after a tough break-up with his previous boyfriend.

He quickly decided that Arthur would be a good rebound, because they hated each other; Antonio did not want to get hurt again especially after so soon after his last break-up.

Arthur, who was still in a relationship, kissed Antonio back while they were locked there together.

They had came out of that room boyfriends; Antonio missed how hurt Francis had been by that.

The rest of the high school years for Antonio and Arthur had been fairly peaceful; they still argued over who had the best boyfriend, though it had probably been pointless to do that.

Shortly after Antonio turned eighteen, they got the matching tattoos; Antonio's parents had been furious at them, and to forbid him from seeing Arthur which hadn't worked,

A matter of months later, the two had graduated high school; Antonio wanted to get a place just for the two of them.

Arthur had been relunctant, but started to follow through with the plans until that fateful day in which Antonio had caught sight of him and Francis.

They had been making out on Arthur's couch as his brothers and parents weren't home.

Antonio had remembered screaming, and that he had broke up with Arthur.

He could barely recall that he had said that he hated Francis; he had thrown the recently completed plan for Arthur and Antonio's new house where thrown at him.

Antonio had completely paid for the apartment; he wondered if Arthur and Francis had moved in there as he had moved away as soon as he could.

"What's wrong, bastard?" Lovino asked Antonio, bringing him back to the present.

"Lo siento, Lovi. I was thinking about something." 'Toni faked a smile.

"Will you tell me what has been leaving you fucking down finally?" Lovino asked.

"No, nothing's wrong." Antonio's smile brightened as he forced the memories from his mind.

They were startled by the ring of the doorbell.

"Coming!" Antonio called as he quickly pulled on some fresh clothes.

The Spanaird opened the door to find Francis, Arthur, Gilbert, and Elizabeta outside his door.

"Hola!" Antonio greeted as he felt a little bit anxious.

"The same greeting as always then?" Arthur grumbled.

"Si." That reminded him of the good old days.

"Who's at the door, bastard?" Lovino wondered which meant that he was now presentable for guests.

"Lovi!" Antonio chirped, almost liked he had just realized that Lovino was in his house.

He heard the Italian sigh as he came towards the door to see who his guests were.

"Potato Bastard one, Elizabeta, who are they?" Lovino wondered as he saw who stood out the door.

"Francis and Arthur. They are some childhood friends of mine." He hoped that Lovino didn't notice the fact that he had to force out Arthur's name or how his voice cracked on friends.

"You live here, Lovino?" Gilbert asked in surprise; he hadn't entirely known that they were dating.

"Si. Lovi and I bought the house together!" Antonio chirped as cheerfully as he could.

"How long have you been together?" Arthur asked, and tried to make it seem like he wasn't really interested.

"A long time. Why do you want to know, bastard?" He spoke to Arthur warily, and he made his customary nickname for everyone sound much more bitter than normal as if he already hated the Brit.

"I never knew that he had started dating anyone." Arthur answered.

"And I never heard him say your name, bastard, so you must not be that important to him." Lovino retorted.

"Let's not live in the past, shall we?" Francis spoke up to stop the two of them from fighting.

Antonio nodded, but he really did not want to see them.

Lovino relunctantly let them in after Antonio vanished somewhere inside.

"Why are you here?" Lovino asked.

"I just wanted to talk to Antonio again. He doesn't answer any of my calls anymore." Francis sighed.

"Then you aren't really friends." Lovi pointed out.

"Francis, Antonio, and I grew up together. We were close." Gilbert told Lovino.

"I never even heard him say his name." Lovino jerked his thumb towards Francis.

"He's hated me for a while now." Francis whispered.

"Lovi, come here! Help me make something for them to eat!" Antonio called from in the kitchen.

"You aren't going to make churros?" Lovino asked in surprise.

"No. I thought Italian food would be better." He answered; a fake smile on his face.

"Oh, Antonio!" Francis called out, and hugged his ex-friend.

"Let go!" Antonio called out; those hands had helped take Arthur away from him.

Lovino glared at him, "You heard him!"

Francis let go of him, "I'm sorry."

"I don't want to see the two of you ever again." Lovino growled as he pointed at both Arthur and Francis.

"Okay." Francis answered quietly.

Gilbert had only brought them over at Francis's insistence that he still wanted to be friends with Antonio; now that plan was shot.


	2. Chapter 2

Francis had loved Arthur back then, and he still loved him.

He had probably loved him since they were kids, and still only pen pals.

When Arthur had moved beside Francis's home, their bond only grew, and they became practically inseperable.

During those days, Arthur started to fight with Antonio as the Spaniard and Briton became rivals; Francis and Arthur became best friends as Arthur insisted that he liked women.

By the time Arthur had started to date the other teenage boys, Francis was busy with his own relationship as he had fallen in love with Jean; he had for the most part ignored his feelings for Arthur during this time. Jean would ease away the confusion with the love she had given Francis. but that wouldn't last long as Jean died in a family fire two years after Francis had met and fallen in love with her.

Arthur was unavailable during that time to date, though Francis had only wanted Arthur's comfort after Jean's death for a while; Arthur was his comfort.

When Francis realised that he still loved Arthur with the part of his heart that still didn't love Jean, Antonio had been broken up with, and was depressed from it.

Francis comforted his friend while Gilbert got annoyed by the Spaniard's sadness combined with his rivalry with Arthur, so Gilbert had gotten the not so brilliant idea of locking Antonio and Arthur in a room together.

Antonio latched on to Arthur as his rebound guy, and he had informed both Gilbert and Francis of that fact; it had still hurt Francis for those two to date.

He let them under the assumption that they will break up not too long later, but they didn't as Antonio and Arthur fell for each other, shattering Francis's heart even more.

Francis had never wanted to hurt either of them, so he want back to his flirtatious ways with people that couldn't have any bit of his love as his heart belonged to both Jean and Arthur.

Time moved on, and when Francis realised that Arthur had a rose tattooed on his skin, it had nearly killed Francis; he stopped gifting roses as they reminded him too much of Arthur and Antonio's relationship.

Arthur had to have known that he was harming Francis, but he said nothing of it; Francis had been surprised at Arthur's refusal of moving in with Antonio.

He didn't pester Arthur about it as Arthur had always been one for privacy, and he would explain why when he was ready besides he did eventually agree.

Francis still shown up at Arthur's house to visit his British best friend.

That day had been different as Arthur had been home alone, and Francis only realised later that Arthur had invited Francis over because he had been alone.

"I've always loved you, but I never noticed until the other day. I can't move in with Antonio when my heart belongs to you." Arthur had confessed, and to this day, Francis didn't know who had moved first.

Everything else had flown from Francis's mind as he focused on the fact that Arthur loved him back, and all thoughts of Arthur's current relationship with one of his best friends had been erased; all his thoughts were consumed with the feeling of Arthur's lips, his confession, and of Arthur's smaller body against his hands.

He had no idea of how or when they ended up on the couch, just that they were there, and that Arthur's kisses lit up a fire with in Francis that he had thought had been extiguished years before.

Francis could still hear his friend's heartbroken screams, and the words of hate for the two of them, ones that had previously been held tight and close in Antonio's heart.

Francis felt guilty over that and had begun to lose sleep over it, but he still loved Arthur.

Initially in their attempt at not wasting the Spaniard's money, they had moved in to the place that he had bought, but Antonio was everywhere from the decorating of the home to the memory of that day and the knowledge that he had been the one to buy the place.

Francis and Arthur fought more from stress, and Arthur was obviously still heartbroken and guilty over the ending of his and Antonio's relationship.

Francis decided that Antonio and Arthur meant too much to him, so he ended his and Arthur's relationship and moved out.

Arthur stayed in that apartment for a while after that until the pain piled up bad enough for him to move out, and sell the place.

They stayed friends which Francis had not decided on whether being friends with Arthur after their brief relationship or losing touch were more painful; Francis though was in worse pain as he had lost one of his best friend's through a thoughtless action towards the one that they had both loved.

Francis still loved Arthur even though they had broken up, but he wished more than anything that he could have his best friend, Antonio back.

He knew that Gilbert still spoke with him, and finally he asked him to reintroduce the two as Francis missed his friend.

Francis felt happier when he saw that Antonio now was seeing someone new, but he also felt guilty for that happiness as Arthur was heartbroken and jealous of the new relationship.

It had hurt more than anything though when Antonio had shoved him away, and they were banned from the house.


End file.
